The Easter holidays are a festive season for German chess fans. This year is no exception, with the GRENKE Chess Classic 2017 being held from 15th to 22nd April. This grandmaster tournament is in a class of its own. World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who won the last GRENKE Chess Classic in 2015, will again be competing, ready to defend his title.

His strongest competitors are top ten players Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian. Grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch will once again be joining the race for tournament victory. Naiditsch, competing for Azerbaijan, stood up brilliantly to the World Champion two years ago. In a legendary final he fought against Carlsen in a tiebreak for the title, which the Norwegian only claimed in a final Armageddon game.

The organizers of the GRENKE Chess Classic 2017 are also pleased to announce the participation of Hou Yifan, the strongest female chess player in the world. Yifan is one of eight players in a line-up complemented by German national players Matthias Blübaum and Georg Meier. For the 19-year-old Blübaum it is his first time participating in a grandmaster tournament of this category and will be a great challenge. He qualified for this year's Chess Classic by winning the GRENKE Chess Open 2016.

The following eight grandmasters will be competing against each other in a round-robin tournament at the GRENKE Chess Classic 2017 (Elo ratings according to the list of 1st March 2017):

Magnus Carlsen, World Champion, Elo: 2838, Norway

Fabiano Caruana, Number 3 on the world ranking list, Elo: 2817, USA

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Number 5 on the world ranking list, Elo: 2803, France

Levon Aronian, Number 9 on the world ranking list, Elo: 2774, Armenia

Arkadij Naiditsch, Number 41 on the world ranking list, Elo: 2702, Azerbaijan

Hou Yifan, Number 110 on the world ranking list, Elo: 2649, China

Matthias Blübaum, Number 148 on the world ranking list, Elo: 2632, Germany

Georg Meier, Number 154 on the world ranking list, Elo: 2630, Germany

GRENKE Chess Classic 2017 Schedule:

15th to 17th April 2017: rounds 1 to 3 held at the Schwarzwaldhalle Karlsruhe (running parallel to the afternoon round of the Open)

18th April 2017: rest day and move to Baden-Baden

19th to 22nd April 2017: rounds 4 to 7 held at the Event Akademie Baden-Baden

As a special feature of the event, the first three rounds of the GRENKE Chess Classic will run parallel to the GRENKE Chess Open at the venue in Karlsruhe. After a rest day, all Chess Classic players will then move to Baden-Baden in order to complete rounds four to seven. We welcome everyone to join us and experience first hand the remaining games of the stars at the Event Akademie in Baden-Baden.

The GRENKE Chess Open will be held over the Easter holidays from 13th to 17th April. It ranks among the strongest and largest open chess tournaments worldwide, with last year's inaugural event drawing more than 960 participants. Two months prior to the start over 130 title holders and 500 players of all levels had already registered. So far this year Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Nikita Vitiugov, Etienne Bacrot, Maxim Matlakov, and Richard Rapport are at the top of the list.